


Out of the Light

by megapidgeots



Category: Pocket Monsters: Sword & Shield | Pokemon Sword & Shield Versions
Genre: Alternate Universe - Werewolf, Implied/Referenced Sex, M/M, Pregnancy, Trans Dande | Leon, Trans Male Character, werewolf leon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:28:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24048961
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/megapidgeots/pseuds/megapidgeots
Summary: When Raihan's childhood rival knocks on his door late one night, he doesn't expect him to turn into a werewolf in the middle of his London flat, but that's exactly what happens.The real kicker is, it happens more than once.
Relationships: Dande | Leon/Kibana | Raihan
Comments: 11
Kudos: 101





	Out of the Light

**Author's Note:**

  * For [shamusiel](https://archiveofourown.org/users/shamusiel/gifts).



> This work contains mentions of trans pregnancy in the last two thousand or so words! Please proceed with caution of this is something potentially triggering or upsetting for you.

Raihan has known Leon his whole life. Sort of. They went through grade school together, and in high school in particular, they were friendly rivals. Baseball was their battlefield, and on it they shined. Honestly, though, the only reason that Raihan was able to keep up consistently was due to the fact that Leon missed a lot-  _ a lot _ \- of school.

It was strange. This kid was top of the class, tons of extracurriculars, the works, but he missed so much class. Raihan, at the time, supposed that maybe Leon had some chronic illness that nobody knew about, and Raihan had never been the type to press that hard about that sort of thing. Still, it was weird, seeing him vanish like clockwork once, sometimes twice, per month.

This resulted in some kids making menstruation jokes which, in turn, ended with Raihan punching them square in the jaw.

Kids would taunt him and say that he had a crush on Leon, probably because he absolutely did. But Leon was immaculate, and Raihan doubted he even swung that way. Sure, he’d never shown interest in girls, but he was a busy dude. He probably just never had time for relationships.

And then high school ended, and they parted ways. Raihan still keeps tabs on Leon, again, sort of. He’d gone on to become a celebrity, to absolutely no one’s surprise. Not for baseball. He’s an actor now. Raihan can understand why. He’s always had a killer body and a winning smile. If anyone in their class was going to be an actor, it was him.

Raihan can’t bemoan him much for his success. He himself is an Instagram star- something he isn’t always proud of, but he thrives off attention, and it sure pays the bills. It’s late, and he should be sleeping, but if he doesn’t get at least three photos out per day, he’ll dip in followers, and he can’t risk that loss in income. 

Raihan is editing photos when he hears a knock on the door. He knocks his headset off his ears and squints. A quick series of knocks, more aggressive now, follows soon after. “I’m coming, I’m coming,” Raihan sighs, pushing his office chair back. It’s old, and its wheels don’t work, causing it to scrape harshly against the ground. His apartment is small, but he doesn’t need much, and they allow reptiles. He shoves open the front door.

Leon is waiting for him. His beautiful gold eyes are wide and frantic. Rainwater drips steadily from his long purple hair.

He has more hair than Raihan remembers. It’s sprouting sporadically from his arms and neck.

“Raihan, please let me in.”

“Uh.”

“ _ Please.” _

Raihan steps back, gaze never leaving Leon. What the fuck? What the fuck. Leon enters, hands gripping his arms tightly.

“So, uh, it’s been what, five years? How’s hollywood?”

Leon takes a deep, shaky breath. “Been better. Do you have water?”

Raihan snorts, “No, I subsist exclusively off a diet of frappuccinos and energy drinks.”

Ignoring his comment, Leon pushes past Raihan. He sticks his head straight under the faucet and turns it on.

Well, alright. 

Leon drinks more than Raihan thinks he can fit in his little body. Not that he’s tiny, but everyone sort of looks short when you’re six foot eight inches. Leon is broad enough to make up for what he loses in height, though. Is he growing more hair?

“So,” he continues attempting to make increasingly awkward conversation. What is he gonna say next?  _ Come here often _ ? “What brings you to my humble abode?”  _ Oh my god shut up. _

__ Leon pulls back, wiping his mouth with his wrist. He grips the edge of the counter, hands trembling. The granite shatters. Raihan regrets not purchasing renter’s insurance. 

“Uh.” He’s starting to feel like a broken record, but what else is he supposed to say? Leon has always been strong, but this is something else. As far as Raihan can remember, he’d never  _ shattered a table _ in Chemistry class.

“I-- no one but my family knows about this. Please, let me stay. I have nowhere else to go.”

Finally, Raihan clears his mind enough to ask, “Can I get some sort of hint as to what’s fucking going on right now?”

Leon levels a stare at Raihan, and he can’t help but flinch. His eyes seem brighter, his pupils narrowing, like a cat’s. He takes a step back. Leon bites his bottom lip, and Raihan sees prominent canines. Did he always have those? 

“I, uh,” Leon sounds nervous as he speaks, “I’m a werewolf.” 

Raihan stares at him, silence hanging heavily in the apartment. He has so many questions, most of them being  _ what?  _ Or  _ Is that even possible _ ? The words swirl uselessly in his mind, but all he can seem to grasp at are a series of question marks that he can’t represent vocally. Then, Leon drops onto all fours and grows a tail, so he guesses the answer to the latter question is probably a yes. 

“I’m gonna strip, sorry.” Leon’s voice is low and rumbling, almost feral, and it makes Raihan’s neck heat up and something uncomfortable stir in his gut. He focuses entirely too much energy into not getting a rager. He tries to convince himself that his body’s reaction is solely because of his latent crush telling him he’s going to be naked, nothing to do with the fact that he’s turning into a man-dog right in front of him. 

Leon shrugs his shirt off first, tossing it aside. He falls back onto his rear before laying on his back so he can work his trousers off. Raihan gets an excellent view of his chest and abdominal muscles this way, and even given the circumstances, he finds himself wondering if he’s doing this on purpose, which makes no sense at all, but has the man seen himself? 

He’s staring at Leon’s chest, analyzing the surgical scars there, until Leon’s down to his underpants, at which point Raihan realizes that he should probably look away. 

Continuing the trend of stupid thoughts, Raihan briefly wonders if he should offer Leon some tea. What’s the etiquette for when an attractive man is going through a werewolf transformation in your kitchen? He doesn’t think Google will yield fantastic results on this one. 

“I promise not to wreck your furniture,” is not something Raihan had been anticipating to hear today, but here they are! When he looks back at Leon, he’s nearly covered in long, black fur, and his face is shifting, elongating? Raihan blinks rapidly. 

So his childhood crush is a werewolf. He’s a werewolf, and he’s in his studio apartment, being a werewolf. 

He’s tall- absurdly so, and Raihan knows a thing or two about that. He stands at least two feet above even him, all coarse black fur and muscle rippling underneath. His golden eyes are familiar- not human in shape, but when Raihan meets them, only briefly, he swears he sees the Leon he knows and loves there. He rises onto his hind legs, ears brushing against the popcorn ceiling. He turns towards the kitchen.

Raihan soon learns that  _ being a werewolf  _ is an awful lot like being a very destructive stoner. He watches his crush-turned-dog nearly tear his refrigerator door off its hinges and begin shoveling all of its contents directly into his mouth. Raihan is pretty sure he sees some things go in that are still in plastic wrap, and distantly he wonders if that’ll upset his stomach later.

Mostly, he sort of just stands there and watches, because what does one  _ do  _ in this situation? 

Once the fridge is empty, Leon clambers onto the bed and growls every time Raihan approaches. Raihan ends up sleeping on the couch, or dozing, rather. He can’t very well sleep when he can’t fully fit on the damned thing. 

As fate would have it, this is not the last time something like this happens.

* * *

Leon blinks awake in an unfamiliar room, naked. He yelps and sits upright, frantically looking around for clues as to where he’s ended up and why, because it sure as hell isn’t his house, nor is it his time of the month.

Crushed granite, torn sheets, and a decimated kitchen give him an idea- he remembers, vaguely, starting to turn, off schedule. Weird.. He clears his throat and slips out of bed. He makes his way over to the kitchen- which isn’t really a separate thing. Is he in a bachelor pad? He frowns as he slips on his undergarments, then his other clothes. They’re still damp, he notices, so it must have been raining when he started to turn, but he can’t remember much of anything after he ran out of the studio. His agent isn’t going to be happy that he probably ruined these- he hopes they aren’t worth much. He lost the cravat that goes with this gaudy red tailcoat somewhere along the way, too. 

Once he’s clothed he takes a proper look around.

Raihan.

His on again off again crush of almost ten years.

Raihan is six foot eight inches of unfairly handsome man, topped with short-cropped locs, sides shaved- that bit’s new. He’s wearing a loose black tank top that hangs low, showing off his collarbones and broad shoulders. His shorts have ridden up really high overnight, too. Leon swallows. He’s hanging over his couch, grumbling in a fitful sleep. Leon is mortified. Did he really sleep and transform into a fucking  _ dog  _ in front of Raihan? 

They’d been close, once, and secretly, trying his best not to be creepy, he’d kept loose tabs on him over the past few years. He told himself that checking his Instagram wasn’t that weird. He had millions of followers, after all. How hot and bothered he got when Raihan posted topless photos, though, especially post-workout, and  _ especially  _ when Leon could see his hipbones… well, that was maybe a bit weird. He didn’t think about it much. 

No one knew about the feelings he’d harbored for the man all through grade school, even if Sonia insisted that everyone knew. He’d been a good friend, and a great rival. And Leon probably just made everything very complicated by, again, turning into a dog in his bachelor apartment.

When he walks over to the couch, Raihan blinks awake pretty much instantly. “Hey,” he says with a lazy, lopsided smirk. Leon’s heart skips a beat. What does he say in this situation? He’s never transformed somewhere that wasn’t his home before. It happened at the same time every month. Until now. 

“I’m usually better at controlling that,” he manages.

Raihan sits up, groaning a bit at the strain, which makes Leon wince. He eyes Leon carefully, and Leon can’t meet those sharp blue eyes, so he ends up staring at the top of his head, which isn’t much better, because he ends up thinking about what it’d be like to run his hands through his hair. “So what happened?”

It’s such a simple question. Leon flinches. Raihan is sitting up fully now, slouched forward with what looks like concern coloring his expression. Leon supposes he owes him the truth. With a sigh, he lowers himself onto the couch beside Raihan. It slumps under his weight, and Leon decides he’ll buy him a nice new couch as part of his apology. Raihan leans in closer, as if he expects Leon to whisper his reply.

“It… you remember, in school, I’d get sick once per month? Well, it was a werewolf thing. Last night, I was at a photoshoot, and I felt myself start to transform, but it isn’t my-” he wrinkles his nose, then manages to laugh, “time of the month.”

“They left that part out of sex ed, eh?” Raihan quips, resting his chin on a hand, and Leon snorts in response, covering his mouth with a hand. The situation is bad- it’s really, really bad, because he has no idea when it might happen again, but it’s also  _ stupid _ . 

“I guess I knew I could trust you. I don’t remember anything after storming out of the studio, to be honest.” It was weird. He doesn’t really know why he didn’t go to Sonia, or Milo, who knows about his little secret due to a sheep pen incident when they were both twelve.

Leon swears that Raihan blushes- actually blushes, but he can’t fathom why he would be doing that. “Well,” Raihan says, swallowing, “feel free to, you know, come by any time.”

Uh. 

He feels like he can’t refuse that, especially if this might happen again. He only has about a half hour after he starts to feel off before he starts transforming- he needs to be able to get somewhere safe quickly. Leon swallows and averts his gaze. “Yeah, I’d appreciate it. You gotta let me buy replacements for this stuff I tore up, though,” before Raihan can object, he adds, “I’m literally an A-list celebrity, I can afford it,” and that manages to get Raihan to clamp his mouth shut. 

“Fine,” Raihan says, that easy smile returning, “you sort of ate everything in my fridge- how about we order takeout?”

Leon’s stomach rumbles. He knows he should leave but…

He doesn’t.

* * *

After that, Leon visits from time to time, even when he’s not mid-transformation. Raihan has a lot of questions, but he asks them little by little, and though Leon squirms and looks anxious, he answers. He tries to push the issue as little as possible, but he feels like he’s earned some knowledge. 

_ Does it hurt?  _ Yes. 

_ How much?  _ Quite a bit. It feels like you aren’t yourself. It’s scary. 

_ Is there a way to make it better?  _ No.

His whole family does it, apparently. He asks once, a few weeks after the first incident, if he has any idea what made him shift off-schedule. Leon pauses then, staring at him, then says that he doesn’t. Raihan doesn’t press, even though he knows that he’s lying. 

He’s surprised by how easily they fall back into an easy friendship after several years apart, but he’s glad. Leon is goofy and corny as ever, though that isn’t present in his professional image. He likes to fish out handfuls of cereal and show Raihan how good he is at catching them with his mouth, and shit like that. 

They sit together on the new couch that Leon had bought him, and Leon falls asleep resting on his shoulder, and Raihan tries not to think too hard about how perfectly he fits under his arm, and how pretty those long eyelashes are, and how they flutter slightly in his sleep.

Leon’s agent lets him post selfies together occasionally, and he gains a couple million followers from that. He could move to a bigger apartment now, but he doesn’t see a reason to, really. He likes his cozy little place as it is.

Sometimes, the gain in followers stresses him out more. It’s a lot of people to please, and they’re fickle. He spends entirely too many nights up late, curating his instagram. Sometimes, it doesn’t feel fun anymore. 

A month passes, and Leon transforms at his usual time, at home. He tells Raihan the next day, and they’re both hopeful that it means everything is back to normal.

But of course, it never is that easy. 

All things considered, Leon is lucky the second time it happens. He and Raihan are sitting on the couch, as they often do. They’re in Leon’s flat this time. The couch is massive, and Leon has snuggled up between Raihan’s legs, laying his head on his chest. Raihan idly watches some new reality show on netflix, but he isn’t really paying attention. He’s focused on playing with Leon’s hair. It’s so soft-unfairly so. He feels like he wants to play with it forever, and the only real thing stopping him is the knowledge that he’d probably eventually mess it up if he did that. And also they need to eat and sleep, but whatever.

Suddenly, Leon begins to twitch and flail in his sleep. He lets out sharp, pained yelps, and Raihan finds himself tensing.

“Leon?” he almost adds  _ babe  _ to the end, but thankfully does not, “are you okay?”

Leon’s eyes shoot open, his breathing growing ragged. He pushes off Raihan and collapses onto the floor. “It’s happening.”

“What?” Raihan sits up straighter, “didn’t you just shift last week?”

Leon doesn’t answer. He’s shaking like a leaf, tears forming at the corners of his eyes. “I don’t want this. Why is it happening? I don’t want it--”

It just about breaks Raihan’s heart. He rises off the couch and walks towards Leon. Leon scrambles back, breath hitching, stray tears escaping to roll down flushed cheeks. “Don’t. I’ll hurt you.”

Raihan leans forward and pulls Leon into his arms. “It’s gonna be okay, it’s okay, I’m here.”

He feels Leon shake out a sob into his shoulder before flinging himself away. The other man rises shakily to his feet and stumbles to his bedroom. The doorframe shatters when Leon slams the door behind him. Raihan sits there, staring blankly at what remains of the door. He knows he can’t do anything right now. He stands and walks to the kitchen.

Distantly, he hears whining, he hears things tearing and breaking. Raihan decides to make home nice homemade mac and cheese. Leon will eat the worst boxed stuff money can buy. It’s his ultimate comfort food. He deserves better than that, though. Raihan chops onions and allows that to be an excuse to let out a few frustrated tears.

He wishes he could help more. 

When he’s done prepping, he puts it in the fridge, so it’s ready to bake when Leon’s done. He sighs and sits back down on the couch, occasionally glancing towards Leon’s room when he hears something shatter or tear.

He must doze off eventually, because he awakens to the sound of muffled sobs. He jolts up and stumbles his way to the bedroom, almost knocking the unhinged door down in his attempt to open it.

Moonlight casts a shadow over the destroyed room, and in the midst of it lay Leon. The drapes have been torn from the windows, and now lie uselessly in tattered heaps below them. There are several holes in the walls and in the wood floors, and the door to the ensuite bathroom is in similar condition to the entrance once. In the middle of the room, the headboard of Leon’s bed is snapped in half, the legs broken, mattress torn. Leon is curled in a heavy red blanket, letting out increasingly loud, pained sobs.

Raihan crawls onto the destroyed bed next to him. He lay on his side and reaches forward, resting his hand on Leon’s cheek. He reaches up with his thumb to wipe away a tear.

“I made you mac and cheese,” he whispers, his voice coming out choked, and he realizes that he’s on the verge of tears himself. 

Leon trembles under his touch, and it takes a moment to realize that the other man has switched to laughing. “You--” his voice is rough, “you made me macaroni?” Bloodshot gold eyes meet his in the dark room, and he can make out that wide, perfect, country boy smile. Raihan smiles back.

“I didn’t know what else to do.” He leans his face into the mattress and wrinkles his nose.

Leon props himself up on his elbows, letting the blanket slip off him. He’s naked, Raihan realizes immediately, and of course he is. When would he have put clothes back on? Leon shifts so that he’s resting on his elbows, face hovering just above Raihan’s. His hair falls to one side of his face. His eyelashes are long, Raihan notices, not at all for the first time, and his face is so, so beautiful.

Leon leans down, and their lips brush. 

“It’s perfect. You’re perfect.” Leon says, and then he leans down a bit more and presses his mouth to Raihan’s fully, a soft sigh escaping him as he does. Raihan tilts his head to accommodate Leon better, and before he knows it, Leon is resting on top of him. He can feel the warmth radiating off his companion’s bare skin through his thin top. Raihan’s hands wander to the back of Leon’s neck as he deepens the kiss, nipping and licking at Leon’s bottom lip until they part. His hands move down Leon’s back, and when he reaches his rear, he really can’t resist giving it a squeeze.

Leon’s always had the nicest ass. It’s hard to not want to touch it. Leon doesn’t seem to mind, though. He lets out a gasp and arches into the touch, then leans down to kiss along Raihan’s neck.

“We should probably eat.” 

“Maybe.”

“Do you want to talk about what happened?” 

Leon sighs and pulls away, looking perfectly ruffled, hair partially covering his face. “Can’t we just fuck instead?”

And, god, Raihan would  _ love  _ to, but he knows that isn’t responsible. He smiles and shakes his head. “We can do that later.” 

Leon rolls his hips, eyelashes fluttering, “You sure?”

Raihan grunts, and shoots a half-hearted glare at Leon, the damned tease. “Leon.”

Leon lets out a soft sigh, but he rolls out of bed and slips on some boxers. He turns to Raihan and flings his arms wide, as if to ask:  _ look, happy? _

Raihan rolls off the bed in turn, cursing as he steps on some fractured wood, which Leon hastily apologizes for. They have a lot to talk about. He wants to know how long Leon’s had feelings for him, how long they could have been doing  _ that _ . But he has to focus. He leads his-- what? His friend? To the kitchen and starts to preheat the oven. Leon leans against his back and kisses along his shoulder.

“You have no idea how long I’ve wanted to do this,” Leon whispers against his neck. Raihan swallows.

“Back at you.” He turns his head to steal a quick kiss, then turns in Leon’s arms so he’s facing him properly. “But first, tell me what you’ve learned,” Leon looks away, so he knows he’s learned something. 

“So,” Leon says, still avoiding eye contact, “sometimes, when a werewolf reaches  _ maturity _ , their cycle becomes hard to control… for a while.”

Raihan lets that process for a minute. He feels like physical gears are turning in his head.

_ Click, clack, click, clack. _

“Are you telling me that you’ve been transforming randomly because you’re horny?”

“ _ No _ .”

“Oh. Sorry.”

“I mean… I do get horny more than usual, but it’s like a second puberty. Werewolf puberty.” 

They let that hang in the air for a moment. The oven  _ dings _ to indicate that it’s done preheating. And then Leon covers his mouth with his hand and laughs, and Raihan’s not far behind.

Fucking. Werewolf puberty.

Alright!

Leon shakes his head, “It’s funny… it’s stupid, but I’m also scared,” he steps closer to Raihan once again, gaze suddenly intense and unwavering as he rests his hands delicately on Raihan’s shoulders. “If this happens when I’m in a group, I might have to disappear.” The final word trails off softly between them.

_ Without you _ .

The implication is not lost on Raihan. But he won’t have it. He’s only just gotten back into a rhythm with Leon. He wants to hold him, and kiss him some more, find out where and how he likes being touched. He won’t have it. He swallows. “I’d come with you.”

“I couldn’t make you do that. I’d probably have to fuck off into the woods somewhere.”

“I’d be coming willingly.”

Leon sighs, allowing his hands to fall to Raihan’s chest. He works his bottom lip between his teeth. “Maybe you should put dinner in the oven.”

It’s not an answer, but Raihan hopes, if the time comes, Leon won’t try to stop him. “I--” Leon is pulling the casserole dish out of the fridge and placing it in the oven.  _ I want to be with you. I want to try. I want to be stupid and make bad decisions with you _ . “I care about you,” is what he ends up saying.

They eat their meal, and Leon is ecstatic all the way through. He keeps on telling Raihan how amazing it is, shoveling the noodles gleefully into his mouth. Bits of breadcrumbs catch on his stubble, and oddly Raihan finds it charming. He finishes his far smaller portion long before Leon, and spends the remainder of the time with his chin propped on one hand, watching Leon with a warm feeling in his chest.

When they’re done, with the (minimal) leftovers put away, Leon’s hands find their way to Raihan’s hips once again.

Raihan pulls him close, tilting his head up for a long, slow kiss. Leon lets out a tiny whine at the back of his throat, which makes Raihan smile against the smaller man’s lips. When they pull away, that familiar burning intensity is back in Leon’s eyes.

“I want to be clear. I have feelings for you- I mean, I don’t just wanna jump your bones.”

“A very attractive way of putting it.”

“I’m being serious!” Leon smiles, “sort of. Look, I’m just saying- if… we’re gonna do this, I don’t want it to just be sex. I’ve had feelings for you for… too long. We don’t need to talk about it.”

Raihan blinks. If he’s understanding this right, he could have been kissing Leon for years. He’s gonna beat himself over the head with a blunt object. “I feel the same way,” he manages. And Leon’s smile in response, he swears, is brighter than the sun. He hums happily and presses a kiss to the top of his pretty purple head.

He has a werewolf boyfriend.

Wow.

“Though, uh, sex doesn’t have to be off the table.”

And, well--

Raihan can’t say no to that. 

* * *

Sex with Raihan is fun. So is kissing him, and holding his hand, and just being in the same room as him, really. Unfortunately, it becomes difficult to keep a secret very quickly. Neither of them are exactly experts at keeping a low profile. Leon’s manager, Rose, is the first to figure out that something’s up. He wants them to end it, of course. He’s always been against Leon maintaining a relationship- he says that too much of Leon’s appeal relies on the illusion of him being available. If the masses of straight women found out that he’s gay as the day is long, well, that just wouldn’t be good for marketing, would it? 

Unfortunately for Rose, Leon is quite adamant about Raihan, and within weeks of them starting their relationship, the entire internet knows, for better or worse. For what it’s worth, most of the reaction seems supportive. It’s mixed with the expected homophobia and transphobia, but Leon is past caring. He loves Raihan, and Raihan loves him. He tends to get righteously angry, especially during the first few days, about the transphobic comments Leon receives, but they eventually both tune it out. Raihan loves him and his body. He makes Leon love himself more. That’s all that matters, in the end.

He even loves the fact that he turns into a werewolf sometimes, insofar as he loves everything about Leon- at least that’s what he says. Leon doesn’t understand it, but he’ll take reassurances that he isn’t a freak where he can get it.

And maybe mere weeks into dating is too quick to start saying  _ I love you _ by some people’s standards, but Leon can’t really be assed to care. He’s known Raihan years. He loves him. He’s confident in that. 

There’s a lull for a couple of months. Leon knows better than to believe everything’s over. He’s on edge a lot during that time. 

It happens when he’s in the middle of shooting a part in a film. He doesn’t play a huge role in the film overall. This is his only important scene. He’s talking to the main character, and suddenly his mind goes blank of his lines. He fumbles, and his costars frown, confused.

He sees Raihan’s eyes go wide behind one of the cameramen. He sees him mouth something that he can’t hear. 

It all happens so fast.

He’s doubling over. He must be transforming, because people are screaming-  _ everyone is screaming _ . He can’t make out the words. He can hear their fear in the trembling of their voices. His bones elongate, and he can feel every bit of it. He always can. Joints pop and crack, and he lets out a pained cry that comes out more as a roar.

“ _ Leon!”  _ he hears Raihan’s voice distantly, covered by more screaming. So much noise. 

_ Crack, pop _ . It hurts. It hurts. Why does it always hurt? 

It stops, and he knows he’s totally transformed now. He blinks open his eyes. It’s always an odd experience, doing that for the first time after a transformation. The change isn’t just superficial. He can’t see certain colors. But there’s more than that. There are details he hasn’t even told Raihan. 

When he transforms, he really, truly, feels part wolf, and this wolf is cornered and afraid. Dozens of pairs of eyes are staring him down, mouths agape, and some of them are  _ still screaming.  _ It echoes painfully in his ears, and, with a whimper, he’s bolting down a hall. He hears footsteps scrambling behind him.

“Leon!” it’s Raihan. Of course it’s Raihan.

Leon drops onto all fours and picks up momentum. He crashes through a window, the shards of glass barely managing to leave a mark on him through his thick fur. He hears sirens wailing, more people screaming. He runs faster. Faster. He runs until he finds trees, until the smell of the forest hits his nostril. He needs to get away. He doesn’t stop until his bones are begging him to, until he’s well into the canopy of pine and birch trees. Leon collapses into damp grass and closes his eyes. 

When he wakes up, he knows he’s not alone. He’s slowly shifting back, but he still has enough heightened sense to know that there’s someone trampling through the woods nearby- someone who isn’t used to the terrain. His hackles raise and he whirls around, eyes wide and teeth bared. He tries to draw in scent, but his transforming body has reverted back to his human sense of smell.

When Raihan steps into view, Leon could cry.

He came. He actually came. As the last of his transformation back takes hold, Leon begins to sob. He’s naked, and his skin stings in the cold night air. Within moments, Raihan is pulling him into a warm embrace. Leon is nuzzling under his chin.

“I can’t go back.” He whispers. Part of him wants Raihan to contradict him. He wants him to tell Leon that everything’s okay, that people are okay with it- with everything.

“I know,” he says. A harsh sob rakes through Leon. He buries his face into the fabric of Raihan’s hoodie. His boyfriend squirms a little so that he can untie and shift off the garment, which he carefully wraps around Leon’s cold shoulders.

“I know a place we can stay,” he whispers close to Leon’s ear. “My uncle had a cabin, in some woods in the Scottish countryside. There’s running water, and it’s close to a village.” He pulls back, and Leon stares at him.

We. 

He’s not leaving.

Another sob leaves Leon, and he surges up to pull Raihan into a kiss. Their teeth clack together harshly at first, before Raihan manages to grab onto the sides of Leon’s face and tilt both of them into a more comfortable kiss.

“I told you I wouldn’t leave you.” 

And so they go. The trip from London to middle-of-nowhere Scotland takes a lot of fancy footwork. They rent a boat, with Leon under what’s basically a massive blanket the whole time. The entire country knows what happened. They stop in with Leon’s family and Sonia briefly to tell them where they’re going. His family understands, even if his little brother, in particular, is sad about it. His mother is distant, as she often is when he visits, more and more since he’s risen in fame. Leon wishes he could repair that, somehow, but he can’t start now. They avoid eye contact the entire time he’s there. Sonia is upset- they haven’t gone a week without seeing each other since they were five. Once Leon promises to call often, she sighs and gives him a hug, and then they’re off into the unknown. 

As much cash as possible is emptied from both of their bank accounts

The population of the village that the cabin is near can’t be more than a few hundred people, and that suits Leon just fine. He can’t think too much about how far news of him might have spread, or anything, right now. He focuses on Raihan’s reassuring presence. He focuses on living. 

The cabin is in a state of disrepair. The door is off its hinges, and several sections of wood have been eaten away over the years.

“It’s a bit of a fixer-upper,” Raihan says. 

But they have time. 

* * *

It turns out that Raihan and Leon are both pretty handy when it comes down to it. They fix the door first, then get to work on the rest of the house. The tiling on the roof needs to be replaced, and Raihan learns that being on a roof freaks him out, so Leon does most of the work there. The floors almost all need to be replaced, too. It’s slow work.

In the midst of it all, Leon’s random transformations continue. When they do, he’s taken to rushing off into the woods to avoid damage to the house. On those nights, Raihan stays up, staring at a book, or at a wall if he can’t focus on that, and waits for him to be home safe. Leon always apologizes for worrying him, but he can’t do much about it, really, and Raihan understands that. 

They construct some built-in bookshelves together and steadily add to their book collection. There isn’t much to do in the middle of the woods during the day. They start a garden, too. They don’t like going into town unless they have to.

They use the empty space in the living room to practice ballroom dancing. It’s not like they’ll ever need it, but Leon is trained in it, and Raihan loves the focused look that he gets in his eyes when he does it. 

At night, they start getting a bit irresponsible. When things are out of stock in the village, they tend to take a long time to restock. Not having condoms available is probably against some sort of bylaw, but Raihan isn’t about to mess with that, and Leon’s been on testosterone (something they have to notify the pharmacy about weeks before Leon actually runs out, to make sure it’s in on time) for years. The odds of any unexpected occurrences are not likely.

They’ll be fine.

It’s comfortable, and fun, and usually soft. Leon is loud during sex, and not just in the way one might expect. He’s ticklish, and he giggles when he’s nervous, and laughing feels good, so when Leon laughs, Raihan tends to as well. Raihan reflects that he’s never been nearly this comfortable with anyone before. Intimacy always seemed like a looming entity- something he wanted to do, but feared messing up, or something like that. With Leon, he never worries about that. They’re honest with each other, and even if he does something Leon doesn’t like, a whispered correction was all he needs to readjust. 

Leon’s sweet and beautiful, and he can be commanding and intense, too. 

When Raihan is in town, he checks his social media. He hasn’t posted anything there in months, and his follower count has dropped. Rumors swirl around the internet- some assume that Leon killed him before vanishing. Others assume, correctly, that they ran away together. Since the incident, more werewolves have emerged in the public eye, and they’re rallying for acceptance. When he mentions it to Leon, he only looks away.

One day, Raihan is fiddling with the settings on their stove. Leon went into town to get eggs and milk, but he should be back soon, and Raihan would love to make breakfast when he does, but it will be hard without heat. He sighs and sits back against the counter as the front door creaks open. 

“Hey, babe,” Raihan says with a lopsided grin, leaning in for a kiss when Leon places the bag of groceries on the kitchen island. He flinches when Leon avoids him.

“Bathroom,” he says, before rushing around the corner.

Weird. He hopes Leon isn’t getting sick. It’s something they’ve mostly avoided, aside from the occasional cold, and Raihan knows a flu or something is inevitable, but he really doesn’t want to deal with it. With a frown, he follows Leon until he’s standing outside the bathroom.

“All good in there?” he asks, knocking softly on the dark wood. Leon doesn’t respond. After a moment, he thinks he hears a choked off sob, “Dandelion?” 

There’s a pause, the sound of running water, and then the door in front of him slowly creaks open. Raihan takes a small step back to allow Leon to exit, and it does look like he’s started to cry. “What’s wrong?” he whispers, resting his hands on his boyfriend’s shoulders. He digs his fingers in to massage them gently.

Leon takes one of his wrists and pulls it off. He shoves something in his hand. 

Raihan looks down- it’s a pregnancy test. He’s never seen one in person, but he’s seen enough films to know what two lines mean. 

Two lines. Leon’s sniffling. He’s crossing his arms over his chest, trembling. Raihan knows he has to comfort him somehow. But the world is spinning, and he’s suddenly hot, and tired--

Raihan promptly crumples to the floor and faints. 

To everyone’s (that meaning the two of them) great relief, fainting doesn’t last long. He hears Leon frantically calling his name and blinks his eyes open. Leon is kneeling over him, tears prickling the corners of his eyes.

“Oh thank god, I thought I killed you.” 

Raihan sits up, allowing his head to clear slightly. In that time, Leon stands and steps back. “I’m sorry,” he whispers, as if this is somehow only on him. He’s terrified, they both are. But especially Leon. Raihan can’t even imagine. 

He shifts onto his knees and places his hands on Leon’s hips. He leans forward and presses a kiss to his belly, feeling his chest constrict painfully at the thought that  _ their  _ baby is growing in there, even if the physical difference in Leon isn’t noticeable yet. 

“What do you want to do?” he asks.

* * *

Leon wants to keep the baby. When he tells Raihan, he steels himself off. He trusts him, but the fear of rejection is deeply ingrained into his mind. He can’t let himself be betrayed.

Luckily, when he utters the words, Raihan responds by surging to his feet to bring Leon in for a surprisingly fierce kiss. Leon leans into it, humming happily, and when he feels tears on his cheeks, he is momentarily confused, until he realizes they’re Raihan’s. 

“We’re gonna be a family,” Raihan whispers against his lips, before pulling away to bury his face in Leon’s hair. Another sob rocks through him. Raihan being happy wasn’t a factor Leon has accounted for, and soon he finds his own sobs joining Raihan’s as they rock back and forth together.

They can’t hide out in the woods for long after that. Leon needs access to prompt medical care in case of any mishaps, and beyond that, he’s hungry- all the time. Folks really don’t joke about that. By the time Leon is really starting to show, he occasionally finds himself thinking that certain floorboards look kind of tasty. 

“Do you want to go to your family?” Raihan asks.

“I want to go to Sonia.” It may as well be the same thing, but he has to clarify. 

Leon knows that things in the outside world have been changing, but it still comes as a shock when they wander into the seaside city they’re going to use to travel back to England, and Leon hears people talking about werewolves- and not even him in particular. They’re so casual, even calm. Leon swallows and continues walking. As he does, he manages to smile. 

When they arrive at Sonia’s home, soaked by typical London drizzle, Sonia stares between them, and then her gaze flickers down, and she realizes.

A minute is spent with Raihan running around her cramped flat as Sonia hits him with a cardboard tube before Leon finally manages to calm her down and convince her that it’s okay. 

Sonia lets them stay with her. She has a spare room since she started seriously dating her roommate, Nessa. She promptly throws their money back at them when they try to pay rent, too.

They end up with even  _ less  _ to do than when they lived in the middle of the Scottish wilderness. Here, they don’t have a garden, or a home to add to. They end up watching a lot of television and wondering what the legal ramifications will be if they return to the public eye. Werewolves are on a slow road to being accepted now. People mourn Loen like he’s dead, and he’d be lying if he said that doesn’t make him feel awful, especially when teary fans express just how much he meant to them.

Luckily for those fans, Leon and Raihan are experts at bad decision making.

Four months into his pregnancy, he and Raihan take a selfie together and post it on instagram without comment. It blows up. Teary, frantic interviews begin to pop up left and right. Quietly, in the background, they start to handle their financial situation. 

His transformations have returned to normal. He goes off into the woods once per month, and comes back fine. It hurts a lot less than when he was randomly thrust into it. It still hurts though, and Leon finds himself hoping that his child won’t have to suffer through it. He assumes it’s about a fifty-fifty shot, considering Leon’s parents were both werewolves, and both of Raihan’s, as far as they know, are not. 

Leon is glad that people know he’s alive. He smiles when Raihan posts a candid of him sleeping with Sonia’s corgi dozing on his steadily swelling belly, and the comments tell him over and over how sweet and cute they are. He starts his own instagram around that time- one not run by a team, and his photos are almost all, as Raihan puts it, “absolutely fucking bonkers”. He never wants to  _ just _ pose. Frankly, he doesn’t know how Raihan does it. If he doesn’t have a cat on his head, or add a caption in black impact font, or something like that, he feels like it isn’t good enough to post. People love it, so he thinks he’s doing a fine job.

Raihan is sweet and doting. He always takes time to tell Leon how beautiful he is. He’s so damn corny that Leon can hardly stand it. 

Leon loves it, but he realizes also that he doesn’t want to go back to normal, whatever that means. Acting was so much, all the time. He loves inspiring people, but he’s tired. He’s tired of constantly being a product of other people’s expectations. 

Five months into the pregnancy, Leon comes up with an idea.

* * *

Their first public appearance since everything went down ends up being when the baby is born, right on time, happy and healthy. She’s Raihan’s spitting image, with her dark skin and bits of equally dark hair already growing in. Raihan sobs openly in the room when he first holds her in his arms, and he eventually has to hand her back to Leon when his crying becomes too violent. Leon, for his part, watches him fondly. He says he’s too tired to cry.

“By the way, Rai-rai?” he says, once the baby has begun to doze off again. His voice is smooth and gentle. Raihan smiles.

“Yeah?”

“I am never fucking doing that again. If you aren’t wearing a condom, it’s not happening.”

“That’s fair.” 

They name her Dahlia, and they post a selfie with her as they all snuggle together in the hospital bed. Their followers go nuts, and they better savor it, because the two of them have already agreed to keep photos of her on social media to a minimum. Wait until she’s old enough to decide if she wants to be seen in that way.

They’re discharged from the hospital, and of course people are waiting outside, hoping to snap photos, pressing them for information. Raihan holds his daughter close as Leon calmly responds, telling them that they’ll release information when they’re ready. One question rings out above the rest.

“Is it safe for a werewolf to raise human children?”

Leon steps back, eyes flung wide, mouth hanging open. Raihan turns and glares in the general direction of the reporter. “What kind of question is that?” 

Similar questions ring out. They caused a stir, and they want to see more of that. They want to see Leon lose it. They won’t get that. With a huff, Leon takes Dahlia in his arms and cradles her close. They make their way through the crowd with their chins up, until they reach a dingy old pick-up truck. Raihan opens a door to allow Leon to enter, their daughter still clasped to his chest like she’s the most precious thing in the world, because she is. Raihan slides in beside him and runs a finger down the baby’s cheek, a low coo escaping him.

“Look at the two new dads,” Milo peers from where he sits in the driver’s seat. He still smiles just as toothy and wide as Raihan remembers. Raihan wonders if he’s managed to gain more freckles since high-school. 

“Thanks, Milo, really,” Leon whispers.

“S’not a problem! I needed more help around the farm anyhow, and the sheep always like you, Lee- er,” he coughs.

“When I’m not eating them?” 

“Well, I wasn’t bouta’ say it.” 

Leon chuckles, the motion rocking his entire body, causing him to wince. He shrugs Raihan off when he attempts to check up on him. “I’m fine, dear,” he says, leaning up to give Raihan a quick peck on the lips. “I’m not made of glass.”

The engine sputters and roars to life, and the people trying to snag photos step back hastily to avoid getting crushed.

“I know,” Raihan grumbles, sitting back and crossing his arms over his chest. He can only pout for a moment, though, before he’s leaning over, watching his daughter’s face as she sleeps.

Milo’s farm is beautiful and  _ huge _ . It sits on what must be ten acres of land, occupied by various animals and crops, as well as two farm houses and several barns. On the far north side is a small patch of woodland. 

It’s home. 

Raihan reflects that Leon looks more alive than he ever has when he stands outside on a sunny day, looking over the fields. He looks truly at ease when he calms a distressed goat, which he does better than even Milo can manage. He transforms like clockwork, once per month, and vanishes into the woods. They don’t keep tabs much on everyone else, save for their close family, who visit on holidays, bringing with them news of the outside world.

Things are getting better. People want Leon back. They want their star to return to them. Little do they know, he was never theirs to begin with. 

Living in a spotlight hurts. It’s scary and overwhelming. Raihan knows that Leon thrives off inspiring others. He knows that sometimes Leon wants to go back, but he’s tired. They both are. Whenever they enter a public space, they’re hounded, bombarded with questions.

It’s always a relief to return to a quiet place at the end of the day. It’s funny, remembering that not long ago they both practically lived in the public eye. Raihan doesn’t know how he managed. Sure, he checks social media, posts occasionally- he wouldn’t want to go entirely without it, and if you asked Leon, he’s still a little too attached to his phone, but it doesn’t define his life anymore.

They sit on the back steps of the farmhouse that Milo has allowed them to occupy in exchange for their help around the farm, though they know he’d allow them to stay even without. It’s nighttime, but the air is still faintly warm after a scorching hot day. Dahlia, now two years old, has her head resting on Leon’s lap as she dozes. She hasn’t shown any signs of being a werewolf yet, but Leon says that he didn’t start until he was five or so. Leon is staring at Raihan, a soft smile on his face.

“I love you,” he whispers. 

“I love you, too,” Raihan says.

He leans forward, careful not to disrupt Dahlia, and kisses the corner of Leon’s mouth. He’s glad that Leon knocked on his door. 

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this for my friends!! Zach and Ally and everyone else if you're reading this i love you! If you'e not my friend but you also enjoyed this, I love you too!
> 
> As always, leave kudos or comment if you enjoyed, and feel free to follow me on twitter @chesnaughtz


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